Lyon Lens prediction 2023-02-12

Lyon vs Lens prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2023-02-11 19:45.
Laurent Blanc joked that his Lyon side “will never do anything easily,” but they are making pretty light work of 2023 so far. ‘Les Gones’ booked their spot in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France on Wednesday night by edging past Lille on penalties, meaning they have registered five wins from their last eight games (D2, L1) in all competitions.

The manager might be referring to the fact Lyon have only won four games by a margin of two or more goals since he took charge in October. None of those have come at the Groupama Stadium though, where under Blanc, Lyon have managed just one victory and three goals in five league outings (D2, L2), a run that must surely be ended swiftly if Lyon are to have any chance of bridging the gap to the European spots, which stood at eight points after matchday 22.

Perhaps that home form can be turned around against visitors Lens, who have picked up only one away win in 15 H2H league meetings between the two sides since 1998 (D1, L13)! Franck Haise’s side have proved incredibly tough to beat on the road this season though, with seven of their 11 Ligue 1 away matches ending all square (W3, L1).

That form, combined with a stellar home record, has helped the Blood and Gold mount a surprise title bid, although they have fallen a little off the pace in recent weeks thanks to just one win in five league outings (D3, L1). A penalty shoot-out victory over Lorient in the Coupe de France round-of-16 on Thursday means they remain in the hunt on two fronts for their first piece of major silverware since 1999, with Haise insisting that “from the start, we said to ourselves that everything is possible.”

Key battle: Alexandre Lacazette is Lyon’s top scorer with 13 league strikes this season, while seven of his last eight goalscoring appearances in Ligue 1 have been the first or last of the game. He will be trying to outscore Lois Openda, who hasn’t lost any of the seven Ligue 1 games he has scored in since moving to Lens in the summer (W5, D2).

Hot stat: Lens’ away matches are averaging 1.82 goals per game this season, the lowest in Ligue 1.